Honda Jazz

Two, not just one, small cars likely from HondaHonda Jazz to take on Getz, Swift and U-VA while new small car to tackle Alto-800-Santro.

If you make one, I can make two. Honda is on a high with plans to make two small cars when others are busy lining up one for the record.


It had earlier been rumored that the auto major’s Indian arm Honda Siel Cars India was planning to hit the road with the new Jazz. However, plans seem to have shifted gear and the company is reportedly lining up two models – a new small car based on a new platform and a small car based on the Jazz platform.

The Honda Jazz nameplate has been used by Honda of Japan to denote several different motorized vehicles since 1982:

• A 50cc scooter introduced in 1986. Such a vehicle (CHF50) still exists, and is currently on sale in Canada. The two models bear no relations to each other.
  
• The Japanese-market name for the badge-engineered version of the Isuzu MU - short wheelbase version, known elsewhere as the Opel Frontera, Holden Frontera, Vauxhall Frontera, known as the Isuzu nameplates as MU/Amigo.

• The European-market name for the Honda City Mk I from 1982 to 1986, as City was already trademarked by Opel.
  
• A Five-door hatchback automobile introduced in June 2001. The vehicle is known as the Fit in Japan, China, as well as in both North and South America. It is called the Jazz in Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.
  

The current Jazz has a four cylinder all-alloy eight valve engine with dual sequential ignition, returning an average of 47 mpg for the 1.4 manual petrol model. Transmission options are a five speed manual or a CVT-7 (a continuously variable transmission which mimics seven sequential forward gears). The Honda Jazz beat the Renault Modus and the Peugeot 1007 in Top Gear's Mothers' roadtest,[1] with Mrs. Clarkson, Mrs. Hammond and Mrs. May all preferring the Jazz. It is recommended by most independent motoring journalists and magazines as among the best, if not the best, car of its size, in terms of practicality, reliability and overall costs. Three-year residual value averages 57% of purchase price, unusually high for this market segment.

The company plans to position the two vehicles in two different categories. While the new small car would compete with the Maruti Alto / 800, the Jazz-based model will take on the Suzuki Swift, Hyundai Getz and Chevrolet Aveo UVA, said a report. The company is busy shaping the two cars at its new manufacturing base at Tapukara in Rajasthan. The company is expected to lift the wraps off the two models by year 2009. Honda Siel might spring a surprise in the market by rolling out both the models side by side.

Meanwhile, a statement from Honda Motors chairman Satoshi Aoki has come as a surprise, which said that he had doubts whether a budget car could come for just $3,000. Making a dig at the plans by rivals Tata Motors and the Renault-Nissan-Mahindra combine, he said Honda did not have any plans to join the race for making such a low-cost vehicle.

A report said that Aoki had commented that developing such a low-price vehicle would be out of range for Honda. He, however, added that Honda was working on small car projects, though not low-priced, for emerging markets. He added that such models are only in the research phase. The company will have to achieve costs and have a good balance between cost and business worthiness before it decides on any such projects, he added.

So where does that leave the new two little beauties waiting to be hatched at the Tapukara manufacturing plant? It is likely that Honda may come out with small cars but they may not be low-priced.